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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

*Interview* Catherine Stine + Giveaway

PLeasde give a warm welcome to Catherine Stine today!! She has a
YA & a NA book to be featured!! Enjoy!!

If everything about you changes, what remains?

Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the Fireseed desert cult, escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn. Arriving at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running. Or can she? The Greening is not what it seems. Students are rampaging out of control and as she cares for the secret Fireseed crop, she experiences frightening physical changes. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk. She’s long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. And how is she to stop her dependence on Oblivion to find a real beauty within, using her talent as a maker of salves, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it?

When George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea offers a huge cash prize for the winner of a student contest, Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult. But when Stiles comes to reclaim her, and Thorn sickens after creating the most astonishing contest project of all, the world Ruby knows is changed forever. This romantic fantasy set in 2099 on earth has a crafty heroine in Ruby, and a swoonworthy cast, which will surely appeal to the YA and new adult audience.

For Sienna, love and art are perilous games. Is she ready to take that gamble?

Sienna is a beautiful, talented artist poised on the precipice of soaring into the glamorous, yet cutthroat Manhattan art scene.

Dave Hightower is a hooked-up, handsome heir to the hippest gallery in NYC, Gallery Hightower.

Erik is the live drawing model with his sizzling green eyes fixed only on Sienna.

Three’s a crowd, so Sienna must make a choice: date Dave and ride the fast track to landing a show at Gallery Hightower and hobnobbing with the art glitterati, or follow her heart and take a chance with Erik, the stunning male model who’s stealing her heart. But Erik has some worrisome secrets, and who in their right mind would make live modeling their career?

Dare Sienna throw away her chances of hitting it big to follow her heart?

If one of your characters
(Ruby, from Ruby’s Fire) were to describe you, what would she say?

Catherine
is tall with thoughtful brown eyes and a warm smile. But don’t let that fool
you! She gets her thrills from putting me (and all of her characters) into lots
of horrible trouble. In Ruby’s Fire she
set me up with a creepy cult guy who I had to run from, and she even made my
blood turn green, forcing me to figure out why before I practically died from the
terror of it! But I always find a way out, whether she expects me to or not.
Hey, I’m a true survivor.

What would be your perfect
writing space?

I
really love my writing spaces, and I have three. It’s good to vary location if
you can. The first is a tiny studio in the city I call the Rabbit Hutch. It’s full
of clippings, photos and pictures. Then there’s my getaway studio in the
Catskills, where I can gaze out into cow pastures and woods. The third is a NYC
writing space, which is inspiring because I hear everyone else working around
me. But my perfect dream space? A beachfront studio with a full view of the
breakers crashing to shore—I worship the ocean.

You find yourself as the main
character in your book what’s the first thing you’d do?

Hard
to say because my characters have already done it! But um, if I were Sienna in Model Position I’d throw myself on the
sexy live drawing model asap! If I were Ruby in Ruby’s Fire I’d poison the sinister cult dude to make sure he
wouldn’t chase me anywhere! Basically? I’d transfix all the handsome hotties
and save the day while doing it.

Who are some of your favorite
Indie Ladies?

I
read a lot of great indie fiction. I like too many indie romance authors to
name. For a rousing fantastical adventure series I like Alison DeLuca’s Crown
Phoenix. The Untethered Realms ladies are all good. We write speculative
fiction of all types.

If you were able to write a
book with anyone who would it be and why?

Not
sure I could write that way . . . but um, it could be big fun to write an
alternating POV romance with a male author.

The apple doesn't fall far from
the tree...Which one of your characters
is most like you?

I’d
say most of them have at least one quality of mine. Ruby is counter-phobic,
which means that she plunges right into situations that she’s truly scared of.
I’m like that. Sienna is artistic, and I’m also a painter and illustrator. I
wanted to write Model Position to be
able to share some of my wild experiences in art school—fictionalized of
course! J

Do you look at reviews for
your books?

Sure,
most of them. I learned from the time exhibiting my paintings and reading art
reviews that the response to any creative output is all over the place—highly
subjective. While some may totally adore a character, others may think she’s
mean, or contrived or whatever. A writer must develop a lizard skin and wear it
while reading reviews. Many reviews are wonderful and those are the ones that
help me know I’m doing something right.

Give some advice to the
aspiring Indie Ladies out there...

The
advice I just gave about reviews is important once you start publishing. And make
sure your manuscript is flawless before
you hit that publish button. Hire a seasoned editor and proofreader and revise
your work like crazy! Do pay attention to the market and what’s out there. Try
to be original, and make your tale brim with tension and twists that compel
readers to turn the pages! Have fun with your story. Writing’s hard work, but
it can also be exhilarating. Your job is to not only entertain others, but to
entertain yourself.

About the Author

Catherine Stine writes YA, NA and MG novels. Her new adult romance, Model Position launches on Feb 20, 2014 with Inkspell Publishing. For her romance, Catherine uses the pen name Kitsy Clare. Her YA futuristic thriller, Fireseed One earned finalist spots in The USA Book News International Book awards for SCI-FI and YA. It also won a 2013 Bronze Wishing Shelf Award and an Indie Reader notable stamp. Its sequel, Ruby's Fire launched in June 2013. Her YA novel, Refugees, earned a New York Public Library Best Book and a featured review and interview in Booklist. Middle grade novels include The End of the Race in the Wild at Heart series and A Girl’s Best Friend in the Innerstar University series. She's also an illustrator and painter, whose work has been exhibited in New York, Philadelphia and Miami. Stine hails from Philadelphia, and lives in New York City.

2 comments:

Love the advice for aspiring Indie Ladies! Thanks! :d Now to the books. Ruby's Fire just sounds downright awesome! and I am in love with that cover, same goes for Model Position. From reading the synopsis of Model Position, Sienna should totally follow her heart! Erik sounds like great guy but MEEP secrets! I really want to read these books!